By Gus Saltonstall
In a message sent to residents on Wednesday, the management of the El Dorado building on the Upper West Side admitted to mistakenly labeling the photos first posted by West Side Rag of two people on top of the towers of the famous building as fake.
“Yesterday, you received a communication from the Building Management Office stating that reports of individuals scaling the exterior of our building were a hoax and that photos of the incident were fake,” read the message titled, 300 CPW — Important Update on Recent Incident. “We have since learned that this information was inaccurate. The incident did, in fact, occur, and we are now working with the relevant authorities to fully understand the circumstances.”
Here is the full note.
The building’s most recent message to residents came one day after a different message on Tuesday inaccurately said that the photos taken by longtime West Side Rag contributor Jeff Segall were “manipulated and classified as deep fakes.”
Later on Tuesday, the president of the El Dorado board did tell the Rag that the initial statement calling the photos fake was based on “police telling our door staff Monday night that it was likely a hoax,” but that the building might have “concluded, perhaps prematurely, that the photos were fake.”
Segall, 82, had seen the two climbers on top of the El Dorado a little before 7 p.m. on Monday night and snapped more than 100 photos of the pair.
The El Dorado is more than 100 years old, a New York City landmark, and has served as home to celebrities such as Alec Baldwin, Bruce Willis, Marilyn Monroe, Bono, Carrie Fisher, and more.
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Which building management company does the El Dorado building corporation use?
The quote was from the lawyer (of course) who runs the Board of the Coop.
Solstice Residential Grp.
!!!!!
It’s pretty despicable for them to accuse the Rag of fake news! I hope they have apologized privately, as they certainly did not in this accountability-free statement.
Read the memo. The management company didn’t accuse the Rag of anything. Instead they admitted their own mistake.
But their first reaction was to say that the story was fake.
The bigger issue is the danger to the people below if this person fell.
Having a person land on you from 29 stories up cannot be pleasant. (Do the math)
Could we just all take a deep breath about this supposed danger that did not prove dangerous or harmful in the event? No one wants to encourage crazy stunts, but a person atop one of those towers would have to have a wing suit to clear the balconies and projecting parts of the building below them and pose a danger to anyone on the sidewalk, no? Not saying it would end well for them if they fell, just that I’m not sure there was much danger of harm to someone else, even if they tried to leap out. And in this case all ended well, so far as we know. End of sermon. Another deep breath. Moving on…
Hmph! How dare they impugn the integrity of WSR!
The whole situation is abnormal, there are no heroes there. The climbers are not “brave”, they recklessly endangered their own and potentially other people’s lives. The photographer instead of taking pics should have called 911. The management company shouldn’t have dismissed something major like this as “fake” in order to pacify understandably worried tenants.
And on top of this all WSR glorifying irresponsible and dangerous antics like this by publishing photos and praising the photographer?
Neither WSR nor the photographer was “glorifying” anything. As an objective observer, the photographer was merely documenting what he saw. Whether he should have called 911 is another question. The photos document the incident, in case there is any legal action to be taken.
The photographer “merely documented what he saw”?! “An objective observer”?!
No, he was neither “documenting”, nor was he “an objective observer” . His civic duty was to call 911 which he neglected and chose instead to continue taking pictures and later on even enhancing them which clearly is not a point of “documenting”.
I’m sure you won’t be happy if people like this photographer are “documenting” and not instead calling 911 in case find yourself in a dangerous situation. Hope for yours and everyone’s sake they won’t choose to be just “an observer” and then post the pictures instead of helping
Oh please. Don’t blame the photographer for anything. Nobody knows the story behind their choices, nor what they did or didn’t know. You also don’t know if they’re the one who did indeed call the police (since someone obviously did). Without the photos there would be no evidence of it. It’s documenting. Don’t blame the messenger.
Clearly, the 2 guys who were up there put themselves there. They put Themselves in danger. That is very different than someone being in danger through no fault or action of their own. They wanted a spectacle, and they got it. One even had a selfie stick!
Agree.
Excellent reporting, as always!! Thanks so much!! This is interesting, relevant & factual news, not “glorification” as suggested elsewhere in the comments.
West Side Rag, please tell me how two of us can have the same identity on this site? I am also Emma. Have been for a while. I don’t mind this Emma’s comment but it is NOT me. Sincerely, Emma
You can choose any name to post under, so we all could post here as Emma if we wanted. I’d try using Emma1 or like for twitter or instagram the good old theoriginalemma
Two morons. Hopefully they will be held accountable for their stupidity. Thankfully. Mr. Segall documented their actions in his remarkable photographs.
The question residents are asking is how did these candidates for the Darwin Award get to the towers? Did they take advantage of the scaffolding on the towers or scale the building from then ground up? Or was it an inside job?
Fake “fake” news? Whoever heard of such a thing?
Terrible security that two people could get access like this.
Wow! How fabulous. Who are these daredevils? It recalls the time when
someone walked on a line from one
World Trade tower to another. A movie
was made of this happening. Illegal? Maybe.
Safe? Not. Fabulous? Yes
It’s so wonderful that adventurous people can still do this. Of course it’s dangerous and of course they could have squashed someone flat. But wasn’t it fun? It’s given many of us vicarious excitement and pleasure at their suceess. Thanks West Side Rag for both articles!
Mr. Segall was a witness to the unlawful criminal act. He decided not to involve the police and proceeded taking his pictures disregarding the safety of the climbers and other people.
WSR did glorify this adventure and Mr. Segalls’s actions by publishing his photos as if it was in the same category as beautiful sunset, calling his picture “stunning”.
I was shocked to see the original article and even more shocked now by some commutators who disregard public safety and wrongful conduct in favor of sensationalist photos.
There was no meaningful intervention at the point in time when the photos were taken.
Have you requested emergency services in our neighborhood recently ?
So funny – a number of commenters oohed and asshed over the photos and the actual feat of the kids who scaled those towers in the first article. Today, not so much.
Wow! What a turnaround.